


Feed the Ego but don't starve the Soul

by Silvyavan



Category: Blue Lock (Manga)
Genre: Anri is a badass, Assumptions, Demonic Possession, Developing Relationship, Ego is a clingy bastard, F/M, First Meetings, Jinpachi is the epitome of self control, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-18 08:50:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19331194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvyavan/pseuds/Silvyavan
Summary: Jinpachi Ego did not plan on going back into the world of football, especially the state it was in now.He also did not expect to meet Anri Teieri, but the world works in funny ways.A.k.a. assumptions on how Ego and Teieri met + monster au because I have no self control.





	Feed the Ego but don't starve the Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Can I explain? Maybe. Will I tho? No.

There is an assumption that Jinpachi Ego is someone who hates football. The assumption is wrong.

It's not that Jinpachi hated football. It's that he hated the state the Japanese national team was in.

It's not that Ego hated football. It's that over the many years that he has been in his prime, not a single player other than him had truly enjoyed the feel of playing football. His way of playing football. The egoistic way of the striker.

It's worth mentioning that Jinpachi Ego is not  _one_  person.

Jinpachi was the football player who's abilities far surpassed his own teammates to the point where it was a hidrance.

Ego was the shadowy figure of pride and analytical prowess that enjoyed crushing the opposition and reveling in the fear that they emitted. The personality that wished to find someone who could have managed to keep up with them but never did.

Jinpachi Ego hated how japanese football was at a standstill for nearly 25 years. He hated how the players had been molded into the mentality of playing for a team and that all the players had equal amount of responsibility to uphold.

It was utter  _bullshit_.

Nobody seemed to agree with his sentiments.

Until he was watching the world cup of 2018.

He personally did not enjoy going to bars. Too crowded and too many loud people. He had only one bar that he genuinely enjoyed. A small back alleyway place which had room for a small bar top and a few tables. Ever since his retirement, Jinpachi enjoyed the soothing, vintage atmosphere and small amount of customers. Music was enjoyable as well.

So both he and Ego were surprised to see a woman with jaw length braided hair sitting at his usual seat, several papers scattered around her. She was writing something onto the papers while her eyes were glued to the television. It was the 16th round of the world cup. Japan was playing.

They've never seen her before. The bar was usually full of regulars and maybe the occasional senior citizen.

She was no regular. Nor was she a regular person. No person glared at a television with such viciousness. Ego was beginning to wonder if the TV was going to crack under that glare.

" _New person_." Ego whispered. Jinpachi payed him no mind as he took a seat next to woman. She took his spot, yes, but there were other seats. She payed him no mind, which made Ego grit his teeth.

Jinpachi had mastered his control over Ego many years ago. They'd practically beaten each other into submission back in their youth, but now, retired and with no otherwise good output for bloodlust, Ego had mellowed down. That didn't stop him from making Jinpachi intimidating but still.

The black mass had stretched his neck over th woman's head to peek at the papers.

" _She's from the JFA!"_  Exclaimed Ego. The kickoff began and the opponent managed to snatch the ball from the Japanese striker.

"God damned idiot, can't keep the ball..." The woman mumbled under her breath as she wrote down something onto the papers.

Jinpachi silently agreed with her. The striker had the ball for about two seconds. He was an idiot with legs growing of who knew where.

" _She's writing about the players. Nothing good about them though_." Jinpachi raised an eyebrow.

'Is she cursing how they're wasting the funding or something?' Jinpachi asked as he sipped his drink. Most people from the JFA cared more about the money they got as income from the games rather than the fact that Japan couldn't go past the 16th round.

" _She's roasting the players on how incompetent they are. Our players. And maybe even her coworkers_." Ego giggled, peering curiously into the papers. " _She's roasting them quite hard too. She's going to punch a hole in the papers."_

Both he and Ego were now curious. She seemed like she was in the JFA for the football part of the organization, not the profits.

Jinpachi moved his attention to the game.

His ire rose in seconds.

"Number 7 is either drunk, sleepwalking or on some form drug. What kind of half assed pass was that?" Jinpachi remarked.

" _That was no pass at all._ " Ego replied.

"Wouldn't be surprised if it was all three at once." The woman spoke up, biting the back of her pen. The pen already looked close to being halfway chewed through. "This is number 7's first season and he's acting like he's already won. All bite and no bark, and even less skill or focus. I'd love to see him even try to score a goal."

Jinpachi nodded bitterly. Ego was now floating in the space between them.

"It's a miracle he wasn't sacked yet. His passes are too strong and could cause bruises for the other players. His position isn't even that of a striker yet he's charging with no plan. He's playing outside of the strategy too." Jinpachi continued.

"And it'll be an even bigger one if he has the balls to defend himself after this match. What are the higher ups thinking? You can't put a player like that in an international match, it's humiliating." The woman replied.

Ego had burst into laughter.

 _"I like her. She doesn't pull any punches."_  Ego remarked.

Jinpachi nodded to both of them.

The first play was filled with comments on the players, the strategy and downright mocking some of the people there.

For the first time in twenty years, Jinpachi Ego had enjoyed watching a football match.

"They're not enough! They need to pull themselves together if they want to advance to the quarterfinals." The woman had remarked.

"Quarterfinals?" Jinpachi asked.

"Of course. The goal of each team is to win the world cup, isn't it? That means not third or second place. It means wining first place. But the way they're playing is just-" She seemed like she was about to burst into flames.

 _"A mockery of not just the sport but also our efforts."_  Ego finished.

The woman turned to them both and Jinpachi hadn't realized that they both said it.

"Excuse me, I must have been rambling to you the entire time." She replied.

"No. Quite the contrary, what you're saying is true and the only way I wouldn't agree with you is if I were blind." Jinpachi raised his hand. "Jinpachi Ego."

The woman raised her hand to grasp his.

"Anri Teieri. A pleasure to meet you." She replied. The grasp on his hand was firm and tight.

"The pleasure is all mine." Jinpachi nodded, and he couldn't help but feel as though this was the first time he was enjoying meeting someone.

* * *

They'd both watched the loss of Japan in the 16th round and then promptly decided to spend the rest of their night talking.

Talking involved bad mouthing everyone in the stadium, the talks on how this generation of national football players was too old for this, strategy analysis and player coordination.

Several napkins were used to draw on and Anri apparently had an insight on Japan's national players' training regime.

The regime disgusted Jinpachi.

Mostly because it relied on teamwork. Team building, development of new strategies but none of it is what Japanese football really needs.

"It's terrible. A waste of effort. Not to mention deplorable." Jinpachi said. "It's working on everything Japan's team already has but doesn't develop what it needs."

"Not to mention time is running out. Everything needs to be prepared for that project but none of the players fit the criteria." Anri replied, glaring at the papers of the players. Some were good but those were only goal keepers and defenders. They were already good in that but it just wasn't enough.

Jinpachi knew they needed a striker that would rise above all. Someone who had a double made of darkness, who wouldn't be afraid of destroying dreams and addicted to the rush of victory. The sound of the project which Anri was talking about was very interesting.

"If I may add my personal opinion on the matter?" Jinpachi asked. "It may seem rude but I was a capable player myself before I had to retire."

"You don't seem like the type but I won't judge. You speak like someone experienced and knowledgeable in football but I've never heard of a player like you." Anri crossed her arms but there was a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

" _Because none of my teammates agreed with my idea of football."_  Ego began _. "Many had the idea that football was a game where everyone had their own specific role to play and that we should focus on keeping our defenses strong. I disagree strongly. Football is a sport where the winner is the team which scores the most points, so by that logic, we should focus on the offensive. A perfect striker can double the amount of goals the team had but the perfect defender will never win a match. The defense is there to take back the ball from the opponents and give it back to the strikers. Simple and clear._

"And by that, we japanese are failing in many aspects. We do not have world class strikers where the rest of the team could support them. The way our football is played is based on teamwork where each player has an equal amount of responsibility in the playing field but that's nothing but bullshit. Out of all the players on the field, the striker carries the majority. A striker is what decides the outcome of teh match. Even if the enemy scores ten goals, it'll mean nothing if we score twenty."

"You have a point. But then it makes you think why Japan can't produce any quality strikers." Anri sighed into her hand. "If we had even one good striker, the strongest out there, we'd get closer to the World Cup than ever before."

"Japan makes good goal keepers and defenders. Why do you think we lack in strikers?" Jinpachi asked, control seeping back to his body.

"You say that like you have the answer." Anri replied, eyes narrowing at Jinpachi.

She was pretty brave to be saying that, considering that Jinpachi and Ego had been emitting nothing short of ire at the state of the national team. Or maybe...

Maybe it was because Anri herself was confident in her abilities. That maybe Anri had a fair amount of egoism in her. She didn't have a monster double, that much was certain but the ego she had.

She looked at him like his strength meant nothing to her, as though it didn't matter. She was confident that whatever she had at her disposal was better.

She had an aura of an empress that looks at armies and scoffed at their insolence.

She had an ego that cared not for the obstacles in her way but only for the goal she had. Eyes set on the prize before her with no intention of being stopped, no matter the threat.

Jinpachi Ego couldn't lie to himself that Anri Teieri was the most fascinating person he has ever seen.

In fact, he won't lie.

"I, in fact, do." Ego replied.

* * *

It had been three days since their encounter and Jinpachi had concluded that Anri was serious about beating the greed out of the JFA via focusing on actually winning the World Cup and not stopping at the 16th round.

They kept meeting up at the bar. The bartender had only sighed when either of them entered the following day.

Anri, as it turns out, was nothing short of over qualified for the position she had. After his answer about egoism and how a true striker had to be someone able to be willing to kick his teammates to the curb for the match changing goal, it had been 14 hours.

And in those 14 hours Anri had managed to find every piece of information about him relating to football, detailed enough to make Jinpachi wonder if he had a stalker.

From his career as a football player to the very school in which he played his first match.

 _Wow_.

Even Ego was stunned.

That and several other papers concerning a project.

A project titled "Blue Lock".

The way Anri swept him away in her current, her plot in taking young football players from all over the country to train them and mold them into forces of nature to take the football world by storm. To win the World Cup.

There was just one problem that she had but apparently had fixed with his presence.

"The facility itself is built and so are the fields and rooms but there are some that haven't been installed with anything yet. The reason for the problem is finding a proper teacher. With the mentor in place, they could mold the training regime in a way they saw fit for the development of all the players. That would need installation of whatever tech or equipment that was necessary for the regime. But it all boils down to one thing."

Jinpachi sipped his coffee as he watched Anri become increasingly frustrated.

"Funding?" Jinpachi asked.

 _"No permission from superiors?_ " Ego whispered.

"The actual trainer. Funding isn't a problem, if anything, that's the least of my issues. This has been a pet project of mine for years. The salary from the JFA makes it even less of a problem. The problem is, without a trainer the construction can't be properly complete or we'd be making mistakes in picking out any mechanisms. In the end, the past month has been nothing but searching for someone who knows how to actually turn a few hundred teenagers into the hope of football. It all depends on them in the end. The regime, the organization of the players, the tech. A large chunk of it has been halted because-" Anri took a deep breath and exhaled.

Jinpachi didn't need to be told twice.

"Because anyone who's played on the national team is just a hair's length away from being simply average." Jinpachi replied.

"Exactly. Not to mention if the player has any actual ideas on how to get to the goal at hand. Last night's match was a show of that." Anri huffed.

"Then, do pray tell, why you first presented me with my near entire biography?" Jinpachi asked. Ego was getting anxious, like he was hoping for something. That was never good.

"Because you fit the criteria. You have a vision, an idea and a way to realize it. You had previous experience in the field and you are also unhappy with the way football has developed over the past 25 years." Anri began.

Jinpachi felt his heart leap to his throat. Ego was practically throwing his claws into the air as a way of mock celebration.

They had to admit, this was the biggest ego trip he's had in years. He hated how he had forgotten the sweet taste of egoism and victory.

'All those national players yet none come as close as we do.'

"You want me to supervise the Blue Lock project as the main mentor." Jinpachi claimed.

"I do. If you're thinking this has something to do with us meeting previously, then as you can see," Anri patted the stack of papers containing Jinpachi's data, "I've done my research into you. And you fit the bill better than anyone."

Jinpachi realized that he's met the single person who would sooner trade in the organs of the entire JFA than let the World Cup slip through her fingers.

Anri truly had some terrifying sixth sense when it came to judging a character.

How could Jinpachi say no to this?

Or better yet, how could Ego say no to Anri?

* * *

The reason why Jinpachi never really made it as a national player was quite frankly he was dragging the whole team. There was a vast difference in skill and play between him and those he played with.

He saw that and proposed that rather than playing as a team, they should support him and he would focus on scoring goals.

That obviously wasn't the case with them.

So when the training regime needed to be planned, Ego had gone to great lengths to incorporate the training methods he had along with specific speeches and exercises that would make the players grow as individuals and egoists.

Anri had given him full artistic liberty over the training program. Jinpachi wondered if this was what a child felt when the parent said they could pick anything at the store. Ego simply laughed menacingly while rubbing his hands together.

"And in the second selection first phase, we'll begin to focus more on the individual with a time period of one match. In the given time, the player has to score one hundred goals-"

"That doesn't seem like a challenge." Anri crossed her arms while giving him a questionable stare. "The first selection, I have to admit is very good but what's meant to be special about the second selection? It should be harder, correct?"

And Jinpachi had soulfully agreed. But the entire point of the second selection was for each individual player to know what it is to go up against a monster. An actual shadow demon who would gladly rip them to shreds. Each new phase would have demons in different positions. Goal keeper, attacker, defender, all at the same time until they had to go and fight each other.

Then came three problems.

First, he couldn't actually TELL Anri about the idea. If he did, she'd think he was burning out, because apparently, if Anri saw that someone gave their all into a project, she'd try to manage them in a way that they would get to their goal without overworking themselves. But the idea still stood. Get each player to go up against a literal demon and win. Those who can't get past that won't pass the second selection. So he had to replace demon with something else.

Second, demons were primarily agressive. They're one's inner desires merged with an actual demon and turned into some unholy spawn of a split personality. So finding someone with a demon to act as a defender or a goal keeper would be damnably hard.

Third, they couldn't go out and hire people to actually perform the tasks. Blue lock was meant to be a maximum security base which focused on football and football alone. They couldn't have outsiders spilling secrets. Plus, with the idea Ego had, they would have had to have several dozen of those people, all able to work non stop on full power. That just wasn't possible, the human body could only do so much.

"There's a problem there. The original idea is for there to be a rising level of difficulty after a certain point. As of the beginning, there would need to be a goal keeper on a national level and after about ten goals we add dummies to get in the way of the striker. We keep upping the difficulty but there's the problem of where we would get those types of players-"

"Then we'll get players."

"They can't be from other countries."

"They'll be Japanese."

"They need to be borderline madmen."

"Then we'll make them madmen."

"They need to be able to keep going at maximum power for an unstoppable period of time."

Anri went silent at that. Jinpachi didn't want to get the project to be impossible, quite the opposite, but each selection he had got its own problems. He wanted to make sure Anri knew that.

"Hold on, I have an idea." Anri suddenly said before getting up and pulling out her phone. "Give me ten minutes and I'll wrestle them into cooperation."

And with that Anri went to the bathroom of the bar, arguably the most quiet place there.

" _She's crazy."_  Ego's silhouette came out from the seat behind Jinpachi. Jinpachi shot Ego a glare.  _"A determined, unstoppable type of crazy. The best kind."_

"She is. But I suppose you're enjoying all of this, no?" Jinpachi flicked spoon over to the demon.

" _Of course. But so are you. I want to see what she's going to come up with."_  Ego brightened significantly.

"For some reason, you're oddly happy about everything Anri has to throw at us, the JFA and even the world. How come?"

" _Because Anri is amazing. She hears us better than those rotten team members we had. She takes all the crazy things we have to throw at into stride. She accepts us for all these crazy ideas. She's one of a kind_." Ego replied with an unusual amount of glee in his voice. Jinpachi had to wonder why he was so happy about that-

_Wait._

"Ego."

" _Hm_?"

"You praised Anri. You called her amazing." Jinpachi's voice was almost a whisper.

Ego seemed to not understand the gravity of the situation before a look of shock washed over him and then realization.

Ego, Jinpachi's very own shadow, was an egoistic bastard. He would never in their coexistence let someone have anything over them much less acknowledge it.

For Ego to compliment someone-

Hell must be freezing over. But Jinpachi supposed that the Brazilians would say that too if they were told that Japan would win the World Cup.

"Ego-"

" _It's nothing bad!"_

"This is out of character-"

" _It's fine, Anri is just- shit, she's coming back."_

 _Fuck_. Jinpachi and Ego would have to postpone their existential crisis to a later date.

Anri sat down, visibly smug and happy.

"So how'd the call go?" Jinpachi asked, having forgotten why she even walked out.

"We won't have to worry about that problem about the players in second selection."

"Why not?"

Anri paused before saying.

"Professionally programmed holograms with footballs with built in micro sensor chips and shifting weight."

Jinpachi dropped his spoon. Holy shit.

* * *

Jinpachi stared at the building in front of him.

Today was game day. Or more specifically the day when Anri would present the Blue Rock project to the JFA. By all means, the project was ready to launch but they needed the JFA'S approval for the project to actually begin.

They'd be picking out 300 of the top strikers from all over Japan, with the narrowing of them being under eighteen and all having displayed remarkable skills. They needed it to be green lit so that parents across the country wouldn't think that was a human trafficking ring and so they could get funding for the food, electricity and water for the building and players.

Even if Anri had ten glittering black credit cards and connections all over the world, that didn't mean their budget was endless.

Plus, if it was approved, then it would be made public and would bring football back into the national eye.

And maybe for the world to witness how amazing Anri is.

That didn't stop him from being nervous. The old geezers were known to do nothing more than sit on their asses and watch Japan lose in the world cup.

The idea that he was protective of Anri seemed absurd. He wasn't worried!

...Okay, maybe a little but for the sake of the project.

Anri was by no mean helpless, far from it. But that didn't mean that the head wouldn't abuse the position he had and Anri's status as a newcomer to derail the project. Or anything as a matter of fact.

So Jinpachi was here as worst case scenario backup. Whether he needed to provoke, convince or maybe even smear their brains against the wall, he'd be there to support.

Which is why Jinpachi was going to sneak into the building and maybe monitor the situation.

Ego could be a pain in the ass sometimes but if it meant that he could become invisible and fly at will along with other things then it was worth it.

Disappearing in the crowd, he moved to the door, following the person who walked in before moving to the stairs.

A quick flight up a few floors and he was near the conference hall they had.

Pressing his ears to the door, he listened.

By the sounds of it, Anri had concluded the presentation and now they were discussing on whether or not to fund the project.

Hm.

"This sounds incredibly far fetched, Miss Teieri. And risky. So far we've never heard of this Jinpachi Ego. How can we know he could be a credible coach?" He heard a voice say.

Him? Not being credible? Ego was about to walk in and show them just how "credible" he was.

"They have a lot of nerve for some people so close to death." The shadow rumbled. Jinpachi curbed the bloodlust and continued listening.

"I wouldn't be bringing you a half baked project and you know this. If you listened to the presentation, then you'd know that all the facts and withing his career as a football player show that he's scored more goals than most of our national players. If we had five of him, in their prime, the World Cup would be within reach."

Jinpachi could almost feel Ego preen at the comment.

"That's... a fair point but why pick out 300?! Wouldn't it be better to just pick out five?"

"Because we need weed out the weak." Anri was getting agitated, no doubt. "We need to prepare the next generation of players for the World Cup. To us, it's already gone but not to them. Out of all the players we have, our weakest points are the strikers. Which is exactly why we need to take all the top strikers under eighteen and turn them into strikers capable of winning. And what better motivation out there than a little competition?"

Jinpachi pushed himself off the door. He was worried for nothing, it seems.

* * *

"So I've been thinking." Anri began. "I know that the main form of motivation we're using is competition but I feel like it would be lack luster."

Jinpachi put his cup down. They were celebrating the approval of Blue Lock. Or rather, preparing for its kickoff. They were watching football matches from the entirety of the season. Their primary focus was the prefecture finals and semifinals.

"You think they might see the stronger opponents and throw in the towel at that?" Jinpachi asked as his eyes scanned the players. Akita finals. He personally had his eyes on a Kunigami something. The kick he had was certainly something.

"Yes. I'm thinking we need something to get them to strive for something. I know we're going to throw in the five positions for the U20 but something is missing." Anri said as she watched the first goal of the match.

"Desire alone isn't enough for what we're striving. This will be football's most critical moment." Jinpachi agreed.

"Then what do you have in mind?"

"We'll raise the stakes. Anyone who doesn't become the top five players will forfeit their right to play for Japan, whether it's the nationals or the internationals." Ego said. "The moment they walk in, we'll tell them their highschool football careers are over and if they wanted to continue playing football, then they'll have to be in the top five. No exceptions."

"That's... better than what I expected. Seems about right though. If they can't beat the odds in Blue Lock it's likely they won't be able to get past their position in the regional finals." Anri tapped her pen.

"Or we could threaten to chop their legs of if they fail."

"Ego, we're trying to create the best striker in the world, not traumatize three hundred teenagers."

"Survival is the fuel of evolution. But I assume the project funding didn't cover dismemberment?"

"No. It didn't and it won't."


End file.
